The Collective: Vol 1 The Meat Eater (2011)
Review by Jude Felton
The two previous releases from Illinois based JABB Pictures were Spike and Polly, both impressed and resulted in my being eager to see what they would come up with next. However, being eager and actually getting around to doing something don’t always come hand in hand, so it is to my shame that I have taken so long to actually get around to reviewing The Collective.
With The Collective, JABB Pictures have come up with a cracking idea and one that works incredibly well. Ten filmmakers were given one synopsis, or a central idea if you will, which is The Meat Eater and then sauntered off and made their films. The end result being a collection of unique movies which, on the whole, really impressed me. The filmmakers included here are JABB Pictures, Jason Hoover, Quattro Venti Scott Productions, The Cult of Moi and Vous Films, Darkrider Studios, Over Analyzed Productions, Graphik13 Films, Liberty or Death Productions, So-So Pix and 13 Year Old Dakota Meyer.
I really wouldn’t want to spoil too much in terms of the plots of each individual short as I feel that would take away from the enjoyment of seeing what the filmmakers came up with. Needless to say there is a real variety here. Some are more light-hearted than others, pretty much all of them have a good showing of claret and one in particular is pitch-black, yes I am looking at you Mr. Hoover!
What really shines here though is the diversity and passion that has obviously gone into the creation of these short films. The fact that they are all together on one disc is a bonus. One of my personal gripes with short movies, or their releases should I say, is that you pop the disc in and 10/20 minutes later you are done, you have to get up off your ass and change the disc. Collecting them together like this is a great idea as you get the best part of 2 hours entertainment in one shot. I wish more short films would get released in this manner.
My personal favorite on The Collective, and no disrespect to the other filmmakers here as there wasn’t one that I didn’t enjoy, was So-So Pix quite superb Snow Angel. Director Shannon Feaster manages to encapsulate atmosphere, tension and some black humor into a movie that is one static shot (aside from the intro). I wasn’t sure where it was going but it worked so well. We also get to see Shannon exercise his acting chops elsewhere on The Collective.
The Collective just goes to show the versatility and talent that is out there. If I am not mistaken I believe that at least one of the short movies contained herein is presently being worked into a feature length movie and The Collective Vol 2 will be heading our way in the not-so-distant future. If Vol 1 is anything to go by I would suggest you get excited right about now.
The Collective is an excellent release that I wholeheartedly recommend to fans of quality independent cinema.
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